Kansas driver in fatal crash had alcohol in his blood, report says

The man charged with involuntary manslaughter in the crash that killed an off-duty Wichita police officer and his son had a blood-alcohol concentration above the legal limit, court records show.

James Neal Dalrymple had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.104 after the April 27 crash that killed Stacey Woodson and Braeden Woodson, an affidavit filed in Sedgwick County District Court alleges. The legal limit under Kansas drunk driving law is 0.08.

Dalrymple, 35, of Valley Center, was charged in October with two felony counts of involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs and a misdemeanor of failing to yield the right of way.

Dalrymple was driving a 2005 Chevrolet Silverado northbound on 167th Street West at around 8:14 p.m. when he stopped at a stop sign at 21st Street, the affidavit says. He then pulled into the intersection and allegedly failed to yield the right of way to the Woodsons, who were eastbound on 21st Street.

The Woodsons were riding a 2006 Harley Davidson motorcycle and collided with the pickup, a sheriff’s detective wrote in the affidavit. They were thrown from the motorcycle. Stacey Woodson, 37, was pronounced dead at the scene. Braeden Woodson, 9, died two days later at Wesley Medical Center.

Woodson was a 16-year veteran of the Wichita Police Department and an officer on the motorcycle unit.

A sheriff’s deputy who responded to the crash detected an odor of alcoholic beverage from Dalrymple, but he denied that he had been drinking, the affidavit states. Dalrymple then changed his story and told the deputy he had part of a beer at around 3 p.m. He later said he drank at his son’s ballgame, which was at around 6 p.m.

Investigators found two empty Budweiser cans in the bed of the truck.

Dalrymple had bloodshot and watery eyes, the affidavit states. He agreed to field sobriety tests, but declined to submit to a breath test. He was arrested and taken to Via Christi Hospital St. Francis, where he agreed to a blood test.

A doctor determined the amount of alcohol in Dalrymple’s system “would cause significant impairment of the various faculties to safely operate a motor vehicle” and that he was intoxicated at the time of the crash, the affidavit says.

This story was originally published December 3, 2018 at 5:41 PM.